Tuesday 11th February 2014

Well today was a pretty uneventful day once again. I am trying to get all my tasks completed before the ship or helicopter arrives whenever that might be. It could be any day now so I want to be prepared and not caught out. First thing I did was track down a box large enough to fit my ice axe and tripod and then I packed these away into the UPE container. Next job was to complete a Fire Chief handover document and induction document. Once that was complete I went and did the geo-magnetic observations for this week. I am getting very good at it now and can do it pretty fast but it still takes about two hours and is quite tedious.

• First I have to take 8 snapshot recordings with the fixed magnetometer. 
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite on a fixed trigonometry mark, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the  magnetometer facing down.
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite at nulled at North, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the magnetometer facing down, and then I take eight snapshots of the magnetic variation.
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite at nulled at South, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the magnetometer facing down, and then I take eight snapshots of the magnetic variation.
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite on a fixed trigonometry mark, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the  magnetometer facing down.
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite at nulled at East, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the magnetometer facing down, and then I take eight snapshots of the magnetic variation.
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite at nulled at West, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the magnetometer facing down, and then I take eight snapshots of the magnetic variation.
• Then I take two readings with the theodolite on a fixed trigonometry mark, one with the magnetometer facing up and another with the magnetometer facing down.
• Then I do the whole lot again in reverse order.

As you can see there are a lot of very accurate readings to be taken and if you mess one up or breathe on the theodolite you mess the whole lot up and you have to start all over again. With that out of the way for this week I went back to the office to make a start on my annual report which when finished is going to be about eighty or so pages long.

Here are some reminders of the thirty seven years of the use of dogs at Mawson. The last of the Husky's were removed in 1993 to comply with the Antarctic Treaty.

Monday 10th February 2014

Today was a public holiday in Hobart for Regatta day so we had the day off but the sad thing was some of us weren't told about it and I only found out about it just before lunch. In the morning I worked on my annual report and also did the ARPANSA filter change. At lunchtime there wasn't a skerrick of food to be found and I was craving some spicy food so I whipped up a couple of bowls of super spicy fried rice. It was really delicious and I saved the second bowl for dinner.

After lunch I went back to the office to sort a few more things out and then I went down to the transmitter building to check out the conditions on air. Conditions were very poor due to a large magnetic storm. I managed to make a few call and then I got a phone call from Luc to say he was putting on a few documentaries in the cinema if I wanted to come along. Keeping in with the spirit of Regatta day I cracked a bottle of champagne and got settled into a movie matinee.

Where the sea ice had degraded or melted out has now re-frozen to a depth of around thirty centimetres and the ice is already rafting up on the shore line.

Sunday 9th February 2014

Once again, no sleeping in due to having to do ARPANSA filter change. It was a pretty crappy sort of day today with minus five and blowing 30 knots. The temperature has been getting down to minus eight over the last few nights and the sea is refreezing and is now about fifty millimetres thick in the places that broken out, too thick to smash through with the biggest rock I could lift.

Late in the afternoon I walked down to the transmitter building and spoke to a few people on the radio, mostly from Australia and Japan, but also with a bloke in Finland. So far I have worked over two thousand stations from over one hundred and thirty different countries. Later, after a toasted sandwich for dinner we watched Coast and then a couple of documentaries.

Locations of stations I have contacted via ham radio

Saturday 8th February 2014

No sleep in today as I had to get up to do ARPANSA. After lunch Paul and I did the gash run and after this it was such beautiful weather I went for a long walk in the sun. I dropped into the transmitter building to see what conditions were like on the radio but I was very tired and had to go back to the red shed and have a nanny nap for a couple of hours. On the way back to the red shed there was a really good solar corona which are quite common down here. After dinner I watched a movie and a few documentaries before going to bed.

Friday 7th February 2014

Today was Putu's 40th birthday so I spent the morning making up a “Happy 40th birthday Putu” sign. After smoko six of the guys helped me hold the sign up outside for a photo. It was meant to look like we all were  in the nude with the sign in front of our tackle but most of the guys were afraid of getting it off or didn't hold the sign high enough. It was about minus fifteen wind chill at the time so I have to be happy with the photo I got.

After taking the photo, I then placed the sign out on the ice and turned the station web camera onto it for all the world to see over the weekend. After the photo shoot I went and did ARPANSA. I went to do magnetic observations in the afternoon but I had left the battery switched on from last week and I had flattened the battery so I had to give it a miss and take the battery back to the operations building to charge it. 

I went and got my ice axe handle from the chippies workshop which seemed to be dry enough now and assembled the head and end and it looks fantastic. I’m pretty happy with it even though there is not much colour or grain in the hard wood I used for the handle. 

I went for a walk out onto the sea ice to measure the sea temperature and a seal poked it’s head out and sniffed the temperature probe and a few hours later when Luc and I were enjoying a few coldies out on east arm my waterproof camera rolled down the rocks and landed in the water and as I reached out to pick it up again a seal poked his head out to sniff my camera. I reckon it was the same one.

Thursday 6th February 2014

Today I was slushy (Swapped with Terry) once again and let's hope it's the last time ever. I worked extremely hard all day including about three hours cleaning the bar fridge with bleach which had mould growing in it.

Life has become very routine lately with everybody doing all the last minute jobs and tidying everything up before we leave. Some guys are trying to squeeze as much field time in before we go and we are all in leaving mode. The ship is due on the 24th but we all think it won't be able to get through the sea ice and we have a mindset that it will have to come back for us in April. If it does get to us on the 24th I don't think any of us will be mentally ready, although we are all packed up ready to go at short notice.

Wednesday 5th February 2014

Today is exactly one year to the day since I first arrived at Mawson station, but it certainly doesn't feel that long ago. In the morning I made some preparations for our 60th year celebration of the settlement of Mawson station which will take place Thursday 13th. I spent a bit of time downloading some more media files off the media server and then worked on the yearbook for the rest of the day pretty much completing what I have to do. After dinner Luc and I watched the last two documentaries in the series on Australia.